Gorey Hollows III Race Results
The third iteration of the Gorey Hollows was the hardest course yet. Every mapping software shows the elevation a bit differently but here's the stats from Ride with GPS for each route thus far. Gorey Hollows I (2019): 72.9 miles/9,587 ft vertical gain. Gorey Hollows II (2020): 80.1 miles/12,092 ft vertical gain. Gorey Hollows III (2021): 86.3 miles/12,474ft vertical gain.
For you statistic hounds, the steepest climbing grade on the ride was 22%, the biggest climb was 2,746ft over 8.6 miles. The biggest decent was coming down off of Herrick Mountain and it's average grade was -15.2% over 1.6 miles.
Here's the route, we started counter clockwise, and that in general is the direction the route flows but it kinda swirls around itself.
There were nine control points (the brown info tags above), strategically placed (for the most part, one of them kinda doesn't really control anything) at the top of lollipops and out-and-backs to make sure no one opts out of those fun little bits.
We had 12 brave souls start the race but only 8 finishers. We started at 5:32 - ish AM here's the results!
First Place: Andrew Frost!! He finished at 5:21pm. Total elapsed time of 11 hours and 49 minutes.
1. What is your name and where do you live?
Andrew Frost, Burlington, VT
2. What bike did you ride (feel free to be generous with the details on gearing, tire size, etc.)
Black Mountain Cycles La Cabra with 29x2.25 Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge tires in Endurance Casing, 30T chainring with a 9-50 12 speed cassette, drop bars + aero bars & a bar end shifter.
3. What was your secret weapon (the thing that helped you most throughout the day)?
The fear of all the pizza being gone when I got back.
4. What was your biggest regret (what would you do differently next time)?
I don't think I have any regrets? I was really anxious before the ride and it ended up going really well.
5. What was your favorite moment/s?
Flying down the Herrick descent with the bermed corners, popping out on Ames Road in the middle of the most perfect Vermont fall foliage, the final singletrack runout hitting all the jumps and getting a little shreddy on the berms, the sheer beauty of the sunrise on Birdseye. Passing all the ramblers and waving at everyone.
6. What was your darkest moment (if you had one?)
Sliding down a rock wall under my bike in the drainage after the cabin because I missed the singletrack. I yelled a lot of profanities. It was pretty miserable.
7. Will you be back next year?
Only if Caitrin makes another apple pie!
Andrew Frost, Burlington, VT
2. What bike did you ride (feel free to be generous with the details on gearing, tire size, etc.)
Black Mountain Cycles La Cabra with 29x2.25 Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge tires in Endurance Casing, 30T chainring with a 9-50 12 speed cassette, drop bars + aero bars & a bar end shifter.
3. What was your secret weapon (the thing that helped you most throughout the day)?
The fear of all the pizza being gone when I got back.
4. What was your biggest regret (what would you do differently next time)?
I don't think I have any regrets? I was really anxious before the ride and it ended up going really well.
5. What was your favorite moment/s?
Flying down the Herrick descent with the bermed corners, popping out on Ames Road in the middle of the most perfect Vermont fall foliage, the final singletrack runout hitting all the jumps and getting a little shreddy on the berms, the sheer beauty of the sunrise on Birdseye. Passing all the ramblers and waving at everyone.
6. What was your darkest moment (if you had one?)
Sliding down a rock wall under my bike in the drainage after the cabin because I missed the singletrack. I yelled a lot of profanities. It was pretty miserable.
7. Will you be back next year?
Only if Caitrin makes another apple pie!
Second Place: Daniel Jordan! He finished at 6:02 pm. Total elapsed time of 12 hours and 30 minutes.
1. What is your name and where do you live?
Daniel Jordan. Burlington, VT.
2. What bike did you ride (feel free to be generous with the details on gearing, tire size, etc.)
Daniel Jordan. Burlington, VT.
2. What bike did you ride (feel free to be generous with the details on gearing, tire size, etc.)
Singlespeed! 28x20 gearing. Older-gen Surly Karate Monkey (72deg HTA, non-boost). Carbon fork, seatpost, crank, rims (Nox Teocalli, 26mm inner width). Maxxis Rekon 29x2.4s. Son 28 + Sinewave Beacon up front. Tannus tubeless armour insert in the rear, which I love. PSI in the high teens. Had some very gentle rim-outs in the front, and the insert soaked up everything in the rear. 800mm Spank hbars with vibrocore. Wolf Tooth Megapaw grips (like ESI but even chunkier), plus togs and bar ends.
3. What was your secret weapon (the thing that helped you most throughout the day)?
3. What was your secret weapon (the thing that helped you most throughout the day)?
$5 stumpy bar-ends from the 1990's bin at Old Spokes Home. They don't put these on bikes on any more, maybe because they are a puncture hazard if you crash, and with modern/wide handlebars they snag trees super easily... but for riding singlespeed, having the extra leverage points are huge, especially on super wide bars.
But actually, my secret weapons are experience and heart rate zone training. I'm really into bikepack racing and I've had 3 >32-hr races this summer, including a 280-mi/40kft ride in VA (a similar vert-to-miles ratio to Gorey Hollows, but none of that SKOV charm...). Earlier this year I invested a lot in bike fit and PT, which has done wonders for preventing problems like knee/achilles pain and persistent hand numbness. Those are more often my limiting factors than tired legs, which I can usually fix with calories and electrolytes. Also, riding singlespeed forces me to be active on the bike rather than collapsing into slouchy postures that contribute to the pain/numbness problems.
4. What was your biggest regret (what would you do differently next time)?
But actually, my secret weapons are experience and heart rate zone training. I'm really into bikepack racing and I've had 3 >32-hr races this summer, including a 280-mi/40kft ride in VA (a similar vert-to-miles ratio to Gorey Hollows, but none of that SKOV charm...). Earlier this year I invested a lot in bike fit and PT, which has done wonders for preventing problems like knee/achilles pain and persistent hand numbness. Those are more often my limiting factors than tired legs, which I can usually fix with calories and electrolytes. Also, riding singlespeed forces me to be active on the bike rather than collapsing into slouchy postures that contribute to the pain/numbness problems.
4. What was your biggest regret (what would you do differently next time)?
I don't regret riding singlespeed, but my SI does. I'm having trouble sitting/standing/walking this week because I aggravated my lower back into spasm while climbing Birdseye Mountain (early!). I was able to keep riding just fine -- the magic of bikes, riding heals riding -- but the spasm really set in after I got back home. I know this is due to both going too hard too early (Birdseye!) and to sleeping on too hard a surface the night before (this has happened to me traveling to SS CX races). I should have taken my partner's sleeping pad -- it is a much thicker Nemo pad compared to my older Thermarest. So I guess this is my regret: not investing enough into my creature comforts the night before the ride.
5. What was your favorite moment/s?
5. What was your favorite moment/s?
Watching dawn break from Pond Hill Road on the steep bluffs overlooking the Rte 4 valley.
Catching Andy on some of the out-and-backs. Fun to see him and to get intel on how crazy the upcoming climb might be.
Getting way up into hidden forests and creepy Class 4 roads
Doubletrack berms descending Herrick.
Campfire vibes. Meeting and reconnecting with people afterwards, and the pizza. Hard to top that.
6. What was your darkest moment (if you had one?)
Catching Andy on some of the out-and-backs. Fun to see him and to get intel on how crazy the upcoming climb might be.
Getting way up into hidden forests and creepy Class 4 roads
Doubletrack berms descending Herrick.
Campfire vibes. Meeting and reconnecting with people afterwards, and the pizza. Hard to top that.
6. What was your darkest moment (if you had one?)
My chain fell off at mile 1 and then I was off the back. It didn't give me any problems for the rest of the ride though. Turned out being fun to pick people off one by one!
I felt pretty positive during my whole ride. To be completely honest, I didn't like getting parked in! I know there is limited space at Analog, but it would have been good to know that's what I was getting into.
7. Will you be back next year?
I felt pretty positive during my whole ride. To be completely honest, I didn't like getting parked in! I know there is limited space at Analog, but it would have been good to know that's what I was getting into.
7. Will you be back next year?
Maybe! I would love to bring my partner, Kate. She's ridden some extremely burly stuff on her Kona Rove, but I wonder if she would prefer riding the Karate Monkey with gears (it fits her, too) and I might ride my Waltworks hardtail (slacker, gears). The appeal of campfire hangs and camping might do the trick!
Third Place: Josh Barrett, Gary Bryant, Tim Farrell, and Candice Passehl. We ended up staying together as a group for the whole damn thing and finished at 7:18 pm. Total elapsed time of 14 hours and 14 minutes. Gary is slow on filling out the questionnaire so I'll just update this later once he does.
1. What is your name and where do you live?
Gary - Richmond VA
2. What bike did you ride (feel free to be generous with the details on gearing, tire size, etc.)
Våt Fot hardtail w/ 140mm fork. 28t chainring. 42t 11 spd cassette
3. What was your secret weapon (the thing that helped you most throughout the day)?
Candice- because she knew where to go 
Also Mountain Dew and Doritos from the Middletown store stop (around mile 60) got me feeling like anything was possible.
Also Mountain Dew and Doritos from the Middletown store stop (around mile 60) got me feeling like anything was possible. 4. What was your biggest regret (what would you do differently next time)?
(not having) Flat pedals and good walking shoes.5.
What was your favorite moment/s?
Riding through the valley watching the sun come up over the mountains and thinking "what the hell am I doing up so early and how the fuck am I going to make it through this day"
6. What was your darkest moment (if you had one?)
When I got the song "you spin me right round" by dead or alive, stuck in my head and it wouldn't stop.7. Will you be back next year?
TBD
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1. What is your name and where do you live?
Tim Farrell, The smallest, yet cutest house on the East Poultney Green
2.What bike did you ride (feel free to be generous with the details on gearing, tire size, etc.)
Tanglefoot Moonshiner. The Dream Machine. 3.0 WTB Rangers, Brooks bum holder, and a brand new drivetrain
3.What was your secret weapon (the thing that helped you most throughout the day)?
Super glue, Gorilla Tape and a spare tube (#slatevalley), and homemade magic date balls
4.What was your biggest regret (what would you do differently next time)
No Regerts.
5.What was your favorite moment/s?
Bird Mountain Sunrise, Post ride pizza, getting absolutely lit off of half a beer and 2 sips of Champagne, and also being driven 30 seconds home because my eyes weren't working (Thanks Rachel!)
6.What was your darkest moment (if you had one?)
Herrick (while pushing my bike, I was passed by the single speed racer cranking past, what a beast) and The Purchase. The Purchase was dark times
7.Will you be back next year?
Ask me next week. But probably yes. I'm a sucker for punishment
1. What is your name and where do you live?
Candice Passehl, in a yurt.
2. What bike did you ride (feel free to be generous with the details on gearing, tire size, etc.)
Small Tanglefoot Hardtack prototype with fancy pants light weight wheels (Extralite hubs, CXray spokes, Blunt SS rims), drop bars, 12 speed 32t chainring x 10-52t cassette. 2.8 WTB rangers with tire inserts, Paul Klamper disc brakes, drop bars.
3. What was your secret weapon (the thing that helped you most throughout the day)?
SPORT LEGS! But really, staying on top of hydration (salt) and lots of the coffee Untapped syrups, which is the most delicious flavor on earth.
4. What was your biggest regret (what would you do differently next time)?
Not ride a much narrower saddle than normal for the sake of race weight (thanks James). Ended up with a pretty good blister on ye' ol hind quarters.
5. What was your favorite moment/s?
Getting my legs back at mile 80 on the SVT singletrack!
6. What was your darkest moment (if you had one?)
Hike-a-biking in the Purchase, the terrain is super wet and slow going and the out and back to the control point is always a b*tch, plus I knew it was the farthest flung part of the course and that we just had to get it over with as soon as possible.
7. Will you be back next year?
Do I really have a choice?
Fourth Place: Jimmy Lee. He finished at 10:56 pm. Total elapsed time of 16 hours and 24 minutes.
1. What is your name and where do you live?
Jimmy Lee. Sparta, NJ.2. What bike did you ride (feel free to be generous with the details on gearing, tire size, etc.)
Retrotec Half. I had Curtis at Inglis Cycles build it for me back in 2012 and rode it as my only mountain bike for many years. I normally use it as my bike packing bike these days. It is kind of my baby, lol.
3. What was your secret weapon (the thing that helped you most throughout the day)?
7 Sausage Egg McMuffins. I only ate 6 and saved one for next day's breakfast.
4. What was your biggest regret (what would you do differently next time)?
Leaving my dirty laundry in the shower at the Slate Valley Trailhouse. I'm going back for it tomorrow, so maybe it won't be such a regret.
5. What was your favorite moment/s?
As I was starting the Tinmouth Mountain loop, a pit bull ran out of someone's front yard and proceeded to follow me. The owner yelled at me, "she's friendly"! I assumed she would turn around and go back, but she kept on following me and by the time I realized she might follow me forever, I was already 1-2 miles into the loop. I decided to keep going since I would come back out the same way at which point I could return the dog. At some point, I realized that the dog wasn't really following me, but that I was following her. It actually felt great to have some company at that time. When I had finished the loop back at the house, the owner yelled at me, "she's gonna sleep super great tonight"!6. What was your darkest moment (if you had one?)
After I took selfie #8 by the map, I slipped and fell chest first on to my bar end. My bar end is a shot gun shell, so it hurt a lot.7. Will you be back next year?
I hope so!DQ'd but still finished: George Whalen! He decided very last minute to join the race and left at 6:30 rather than the official start of 5:30 am. He finished at 8:02 pm. Total elapsed time of 13 hours and 28 minutes. Watch out for him next year!
I'm George from Shushan, NY....my beloved and trusted ride is the local Tanglefoot Moonshiner size small with all the goodies to serve me well, big ol 3" WTB ranger tires on 27.5 wheels, SON generator front hub to keep my gadgets charged via a sinewave revolution and the Exposure REVO light shining bright. I run a 30T chainring on hope cranks 165mm length with an 11-50 cassette for the long, steep and loose climbs. Up front are the Ritchey Beacon bars wrapped in cloth for that soft textile feel attached to a Discord creamee stem keeping the comfort and efficiency real. Sram rival levers and shifting mechs. controlling the speeds with Paul Klamper brakes saving me time and time again. Chromag trailmaster ltd saddle that is on all of my bikes keeps them softer parts cozy. One big nalgene size cage and one regular hold my bottles tight.
My secret weapon was controlling my pace and regimented breath work to keep the muscles supplied with O2, plus a big smile for all the fun!
I think my regret was my tire pressure actually, I was terrified of a flat tire due to my complete negligence of having the supplies to deal with such occurrence so i ran it quite high and bounced around a lot. Oh, and to have a phone charging cable that works. And actually plan to do the big miler ahead of time instead of the morning of.
My most favorite moment was my decision to take the left turn out of the driveway for the race course.....I arrived late to the start and wasn't sure about anything until I chatted with an early riser around the fire about when the group left. She told me around 5:30am and it was 6:25, I was suited up and ready to ride, an hour off wasn't too bad so it was a go. That was also a regret, to not start with the group. There were constant delightful moments! Another stand out was meeting up with other riders. Being out there alone is great but having some camaraderie makes the ride all the more special for me. Having lunch and chatting with Jimmy certainly enriched the experience. I love the people sooo much! Everyone is here for adventure and to push themselves beyond their limits which is completely unknown.
As far as some darker moments.....well, we all have them but i despise leg cramping and it happens. So those moments are my worst. Learning how to navigate and remedy and push through and forward to the other side of the mental paradise that awaits. All the things come together and give back the pleasure of strength and euphoria letting you settle into your perfected cadence all the while allowing you to gaze in the beauty of the clear dark sky speckled with stars through the trees as you rip singletrack back down to the home stretch for the classic pizza and beer and fire with the loudest and love filled cheers upon your arrival... no question of my return for another unknown adventure! Thank you to all at Analog!!
DNFS:Jeff Price
Jack Minich
Skylar Lobdell
Scott Linhofer
We got lucky with the weather this year, it was mild all day, mostly cloudy with a few breaks of sunshine. No threat of rain, and the foliage was pretty much at peak!
We're hoping that the event continues to grow and we keep getting super strong riders out to explore and enjoy our neck of the woods.
As of this writing only two women have ever completed the Gorey Hollows Race route, let's see you bad ass ladies out there next year! Enjoy this sampling of photos from the racers!
Oh yeah, the prize for first is a homemade apple pie, thanks Caitrin!
